


Up from the Depths

by Artemis_Egeria



Category: Marvel Cinematic Universe
Genre: Alternate Universe, Alternate Universe - Historical, Alternate Universe - Merpeople, F/M, Fluff, Gen
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-07-28
Updated: 2019-07-28
Packaged: 2020-07-20 08:17:15
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,059
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/19988980
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Artemis_Egeria/pseuds/Artemis_Egeria
Summary: The dread pirate Wanda Maximoff was feared across the seven seas. She was a force of nature against powerful royal ships and seemed to have an uncanny ability to predict her foes’ moves before they made them. But she was not stronger than the ocean itself.





	Up from the Depths

**Author's Note:**

  * For [loszaros](https://archiveofourown.org/users/loszaros/gifts).



> A while ago, loszaros requested that someone write a siren/mermaid AU. That prompt inspired this little fic. You should also check out loszaros’s own version, Ocean’s Song.

The dread pirate Wanda Maximoff was feared across the seven seas. She was a force of nature against powerful royal ships and seemed to have an uncanny ability to predict her foes’ moves before they made them. But she was not stronger than the ocean itself.

One day a sudden storm offered a demonstration of that fact. The sky turned black in the middle of the day, and the wind began to toss her ship like a toy. An island was in sight, but the wind kept blowing them farther away. Wanda and her crew tried to right the ship. They lashed themselves to anything secure, but it was not enough. A great crack of lightning tore the hull apart, and everyone was thrown overboard.

Wanda swam desperately toward where she had last seen Pietro. After several agonizing moments, a wave broke to reveal his blonde head. His eyes were closed, his form completely still in the water. She picked up her pace to reach her brother, but the wind and waves fought her every stroke.

She could almost grasp his hand when a gust of wind blew him away. Wanda cried out her dismay. Her strength was flagging, and she feared her twin had no hope when a slim, human-like shape rose through the water underneath him.

The creature that appeared above the frothing surface of the seafoam was a deep red. He draped Pietro’s arm around his shoulder and swam with him to the shore. Fear enveloped Wanda at the being’s possible intentions, but as soon as Pietro was safely beyond the waves’ reach, the man-shaped fish creature returned for the next unconscious crew member. Soon he had saved them all, and he finally returned for Wanda, who was still struggling against the towering ocean currents.

When he deposited her on dry land with the rest of her shipmates, he looked at her sadly for a moment and was gone before she could even thank him. Pietro was the first to wake, coughing up lungfuls of seawater. Wanda threw herself into his arms, relieved beyond words that he would survive. Her crew gradually recovered and made their way to the port on the other side of the island.

It was fortunate that this was one of their home bases, where they had provided many supplies from their capturing of the royal ships’ ill-gotten gains. The residents of the port were happy to repay them by building them a new ship and resupplying them.

In the weeks that followed, Wanda almost imagined that she had hallucinated the strange being who had saved them all. Once their ship was finished and they were able to return to the sea, life resumed its normal rhythms. She and her crew continued to earn their reputations as the fiercest pirates in the known world, striking fear in the hearts of the royal navy and bringing joy to the small islands where they freely gave of their loot.

A couple of years later, on a very different day from the day of their shipwreck, the sunshine glittered on the water and blue of the sky was unbroken above them. No other ships were in sight and the crew was still celebrating its last capture, so all were relaxed, drinking and casually casting nets over the side of the ship to catch some fish.

Wanda and Pietro led the cheers when they pulled in the first batch of fish. Salted and smoked, it would keep them for weeks. The nets were thrown out again to complete their haul. After a leisurely half hour spent waiting for more fish to pull on the nets, something much heavier almost pulled them out of the crew’s hands. With a mighty struggle, everyone managed to pull in the catch.

Wanda was astonished to see the barely remembered being from her dreams. He was breathing heavily and tears were falling from his eyes before they closed completely. She saw that his right fin was deeply cut where it joined his tail, almost completely separated. The rest of the crew was dumbstruck, even Pietro, all of them already being unconscious during their rescue. But she urged them into action, directing them to help her get him untangled from the nets and carry him to her bathtub. She didn’t even know if he could breathe air or understand their language. By instinct she felt for a pulse in his wrist. It was there, but it seemed too sluggish to be healthy.

Wanda filled the tub as quickly as possible. Once he was completely submerged, she could see gills in his neck flutter open and closed. Next, she ran to find something to stanch the bleeding in his tail. Wanda found a roll of bandages in her supplies and wrapped it securely around the cut. She supposed the only thing left to do was wait for him to wake up.

After several hours, Wanda saw the man sitting up and leaning against the side of the tub, looking around him only a bit dazed. He did not appear to be struggling to draw in breath outside of the water. While he was turned away from her, Wanda took advantage of the opportunity to study him a little more closely. His entire body, from smooth scalp to tail, was covered in hairless red skin. The lower half of his body was covered with scales that flashed crimson and silver, matching the glimmer of the water.

As he finally turned to face her, she caught herself saying, “Hi,” without thinking.

She winced, but he only smiled gently at her. She found herself disarmed by his expression, despite his strange appearance. A matching smile was drawn to her own face. Perhaps he could understand her after all.

Her surmise was proved correct when he said, “Hello.”

Wanda blinked at him a bit, and he smiled more broadly. He shifted, so that he faced her more fully. “So you can speak my language?”

“Yes, my people speak all the languages of all the lands that touch the seas.” His light accent caressed the syllables perfectly.

“And you saved me and my crew a few years ago?”

“Yes, that was I.” His smile collapsed as he tried to move and gasped, looking down at his injured tail. He looked back up at her. “My tail appears to nonfunctional right now.”

“It’s poor repayment for saving our lives that our nets hurt you.” Wanda knelt on the floor, grateful for the cushioning her ample skirts provided, so that they could eye to eye. “I’m sorry.” She wished him to know how sincere she was.

The man shook his head in denial. “It was an accident. I will heal quickly.” His grimace and the blood still leaking from his bandaged tail belied his words. “Besides, it was my own fault that caused my injury. I typically do not swim so close to your ship.” He frowned more deeply as he realized his error.

“Typically?” Wanda recoiled a bit, crossing her arms defensively. It served her right to trust a complete stranger. “You’ve been following us?”

He looked away from her for the first time. “Yes, your exploits have reached our people. You are considered a threat to us, so we conduct surveillance on you.” His hands clenched around the rim of the tub. “That is the only reason I was close enough to rescue you on that day.” He directed his gaze back to her again, an apologetic tilt to his lips. “So we are somewhat equal.”

Wanda thought for a moment, raising an eyebrow at him. She did not appreciate people spying on her. “And what was your conclusion as to whether my ship poses a danger to you?”

He clearly sensed her displeasure because he became sheepish again before meeting her eyes squarely. “We have never been able to confirm that you are truly a danger to us, as you are to the king’s ships.”

“We’re not. We don’t bother anyone who does not bother us.” Wanda took pride in never going after weaker or peaceful vessels. She only sought to get a little bit of revenge on the royal ships that had wronged her and to be free from their control.

“I have observed that,” he murmured. “We only wanted to know enough about you to protect ourselves. My people are few in number, and we have been gravely hurt by humans in the past.”

Wanda could understand. That was ultimately the reason she was a pirate. Her home was gone, and only her brother remained to her. The royal army had decimated her country before leaving it to ruins. “As long as you don’t get in my way, I don’t mind.” He sank back gratefully against the side of the tub, obviously glad that she was not going to question him further.

During the natural lull in the conversation, Pietro came in. He looked between the two of them, frowning at Wanda kneeling on the floor. “He’s awake?”

“Clearly.” Wanda gave him a look. “He’s been following us.” Pietro immediately bristled, and she laid a hand on his arm. “Don’t worry. I have an understanding with, uh…” She frowned at the occupant of her tub. “What’s your name?”

“Vision.”

“Vision and I have an understanding,” she repeated.

Pietro still regarded Vision skeptically, but he subsided. “Alright. Just be careful.”

“I always am, Pietro.” When her brother was gone, Wanda smiled at Vision. “Do you need anything? Are you hungry?”

“No, my tail should heal in a few hours. I will cease to bother you, then.”

True to his word, he was completely healed by the time the sun was setting. The crew helped lower him into the water. Everyone hung over the edge to watch him take a few experimental strokes. With a final wave, he disappeared beneath the gentle waves.

A few weeks later, the ship had just dropped anchor in a new port. Wanda stayed behind to go through the final tasks of docking the ship. Pietro had offered to stay with her, but she had sent him along to the inn with the others. She always appreciated these few moments of solitude.

Just as she was going through her final checklist a familiar head popped up in the water in front of her. “Good afternoon, Wanda.”

“I thought you had determined that we weren’t a threat to you.”

“Yes,” he admitted, ducking his head. “But my people do not need to know that. I have come to enjoy the freedom of swimming through the seas and following your ship. There is so much of the world that I have not explored.”

Wanda smiled slowly. “Well, I have been thinking we have traveled too long in the same waters. We need to expand to a wider territory.” Vision grinned up at her. “If you wait there, I’ll go down to the dock in a few minutes.” He nodded.

For the next several hours, she sat next to him with her feet in the water while Vision leaned his elbows on the dock. They talked about everything under the sun and sea. Wanda was somewhat surprised that Pietro didn’t come looking for her, but she supposed even he grew too absorbed in the tavern atmosphere to notice her absence. When it was time to turn in for the night, they agreed to meet the next day.

The same pattern continued over the next several months. Sometimes Vision would rejoin his people, but when it was his turn to follow her, they would meet and talk throughout the day or night.

On one such night, with the silvery moonlight gleaming down, reflecting off the water and casting an ethereal glow around them, Wanda and Vision rested in the shallows together. They were sitting close enough that their hands sometimes brushed as they gestured. At one point, Vision noticed that a piece of seaweed had gotten stuck in Wanda’s hair. He reached out to gently untangle it. Once he removed it, he couldn’t resist continuing to stroke the soft strands. When Wanda smiled invitingly at him, he was emboldened further to trail his fingertips along her jawline.

She leaned into his touch, and he responded by lowering his head to kiss her. Wanda kissed Vision back, and they lost track of time under the swirling stars.


End file.
